the reality of the thing stood before them, confronting their presence, and refusing to "down" at any command.

Mr. Calhoun opposed the measure, in a speech of great severity. The day (said he) is gone; night approaches, and night is suitable to the dark deed we meditate; there is a sort of destiny in this thing; the act must be performed, and it is an act which will tell upon the political history of this country forever.

Mr. Clay indulged in unmeasured denunciation of the whole thing.

The last speech in opposition to the measure was made by Mr. Webster, who employed the strongest language he could

was there. Expectation, and determination to see the conclusion, were depicted upon every countenance. It was evident there was to be no adjournment until the vote should be taken-until the deed was done; and this aspect of invincible determination had its effect upon the ranks of the opposition. They began to falter under a useless persistence, for they alone now did the speaking; and while Mr. Webster was yet reciting his protest, two senators from the opposition side, who had been best able to maintain their equanimity, came round to the mover of the resolution, and said: 'This question has degenerated into a trial of nerves and

at the President in the late

command, condemnatory of an act, which, | muscles. It has become a question of he declared, was so unconstitutional, so derogatory to the character of the senate, and marked with so broad an impression of compliance with power.

But, though thus pronounced an irregular and unconstitutional proceeding, by Mr. Webster and the other senators with whom he sided and voted, Mr. John Quincy Adams, who was at the time a member of the house, and in direct antagonism, politically, to Mr. Benton and to the Jackson administration, held a different opinion.

Midnight (says Mr. Benton, in continuing his account,) was now approaching. The dense masses which filled every inch of room in the lobbies and the galleries, remained immovable. No one went out; no one could get in. The floor of the senate was crammed with privileged persons, and it seemed that all congress

physical endurance; and we see no use in
wearing ourselves out to keep off for a few
hours longer what has to come before we
separate. We see that you are able and
determined to carry your measure-so,
call the vote as soon as you please. We
shall say no more. Mr. Webster con-
cluded. No one rose.
There was a pause,

a dead silence, and an intense feeling.
Presently the silence was invaded by the
single word, "question"-the parliament-
ary call for a vote-rising from the seats
of different senators. One blank in the re-
solve remained to be filled-the date of its
adoption. It was done. The acting presi-
dent of the senate, Mr. King, of Alabama,
then directed the roll to be called. The
yeas and nays had been previously ordered,
and proceeded to be called by the secretary
of the senate, the result showing a majority
of five on the side of the expungers.

XXXIII.

MAGNIFICENT AURORA BOREALIS ENCOMPASSING THE WHOLE FIRMAMENT TO ITS FARTHEST

BOUNDS.-1837.

A Vast Canopy of Gorgeous Crimson Flames Encircles the Earth.-Arches of Resplendent Auroral Glories Span the Hemisphere.-Innumerable Scarlet Columns of Dazzling Beauty Rise from the Horizon to the Zenith.-The Face of Nature Everywhere Appears, to an Astonished World, as if Dyed in Blood.-Uncommon Extent and Sublimity.-Remarkable Duration and Aspects.-Intensely Luminous Character.-Universal Outburst of Luster.-Preceded by a Fall of Snow.-First Signs of the Phenomenon.-Exquisite Rosy Illumination-The Snow Appears Deep Red.-A Fiery Vermilion Tinge to Nature.-Alarm Produced by the Scene.-Great Moving Pillar of Light.-Vivid Streamers in All Directions.-Pure White and Brilliant Colors.-Contrast of the Glowing Tints.-Wide Fields of Rainbow Hues.-Radiant Beauty Heaven-Wide.-Superlative Pageant of Splendor.-Perfection of the Stellar Form.-Millions of Wondering Observers.-Visible Nearly the Whole Night.Accounts from Different Points.-Europe's Share in the Display.

"Depth, height, breadth,

Are lost in their extremes; and where to count
The thick sown glories in these fields of fire,
Perhaps a seraph's computation fails."

EARS of observation, covering many cen turies, and embracing all zones and latitudes, give no record of any display of auroral glories equal, in sublimity, magnificence, and extent, to the aurora borealis of November fourteenth, 1837. Of the various accounts of this phenomenon, as furnished by observers in different parts of the land, the following will suffice to show its marvelous beauty and grandeur, remarkable for its amplitude, its duration, its intense luminosity, and the brilliancy of its colors. Scientific observations of the phenomenon were made by Professors Barnard, Herrick, Twining, Joslin, Silliman, Gibbs, Henry, Dewey, Redfield, and others, and these were republished in all parts of Europe, attracting universal attention.

The city of New Haven had been visited, during the day of the fourteenth, with a moderate storm of snow, which began to subside between the hours of five and six in the evening. The heavens continued, however, to be more or less obscured by clouds during the entire evening; on which account, the splendors of the aurora, as they manifested themselves to observers more favorably situated, were here in a great degree concealed. The veil of snow-clouds, which, at sunset, and for some time afterward, covered the sky, was nevertheless exceedingly thin; and it was through this, and even

Of this appearance, Professor Olmstead, then of New Haven, says: The snow, which at sunset had covered the earth and all things near it, with a mantle of the purest white, closed, early in the evening, with a most curious and beautiful pageant. About six o'clock, while the sky was yet thick with falling snow, all things suddenly appeared as if dyed in blood. The entire atmosphere, the surface of the earth, the trees, the tops of the houses, and, in short, the whole face of nature, were tinged with the same scarlet hue. The alarm of fire was given, and the vigilant firemen were seen parading the streets in their ghostly uniform, which, assuming the general tint, seemed in singular keeping with the phenomenon. The light was most intense in the north-west and northeast. At short intervals it alternately increased and diminished in brightness,

observers, the auroral flush seemed to overspread all parts of the sky almost simultaneously.

East of New Haven, the storm was more protracted. At New London, the snow was falling copiously, and continued so, unabatedly, during the whole evening. But, notwithstanding the storm, the heavens seemed as if they were on fire,-a lurid light on all sides, from the zenith to the horizon, casting a most vulcanean hue on the fallen snow. The light seemed the same in every portion of the firmament, but without any apparent cause.

In the city of New York, the display, as witnessed from an eminence which commanded an unobstructed view of the horizon in every direction, was, in the latter part of the evening, magnificent beyond description. At about a quarter before six, the attention of observers was attracted by a most unusual appearance of the heavens. The sky was wholly overcast, as in New Haven, at the same hour; though the cloud was not sufficiently dense, absolutely to obscure all the stars, of which quite a number were seen from time to time, faintly glimmering through. At the time of the first observation, the whole heaven was suffused with a lovely carnation, brightest, apparently, at the commencement in the zenith, but soon

This tint, reflected on the snow, clothed all nature with a red-tinted garniture, of supernal beauty. It gradually faded, though at the end of an hour it was still slightly perceptible. The sky then rapidly cleared, and all traces of the aurora passed away.

until, at half-past six, only a slight tingo | afterward rather toward the north-east. of red remained on the sky. On account of the light being thus transmitted through the snowy medium and a thin veil of clouds, the aurora borealis was diffused like the light of an astral lamp, covered with a red shade of ground glass. That the stratum of clouds was very thin, was inferred from the fact, that, before halfpast six, a few stars were discernible as when seen through a fog; and such was the appearance of the moon, which rose about the same time. Within ten minutes from the time the heavens began to assume their fiery appearance, the whole clouded hemisphere shone with that marvelously brilliant light, which, reflected in rosy tints by the snow on the ground, produced a scene indescribably gorgeous. To some

But at about half-past seven, the north and east being still overcast, and some stratified clouds extending themselves along the horizon around toward the west, a brightness began to appear in the northwest, which, in a very short time, extended itself upward forty-five degrees, in a column of diffused light, quite broad at the base, and tapering to a point. This column moved very slowly southward, and at length became divided into two of similar